An Accidental Date
by clemonlime
Summary: "your friend set you up on a blind date and i happened to be eating alone so you thought you were meeting me and you were cute so i went along with it but you just got a text from said friend that they're sorry your date stood you up and now i have some explaining to do" au


Spencer picked at his food. It was somewhat ironic that he was sat alone in one of those large, luxurious booths in the corner in flickering candlelight in the most romantic restaurant in a five-mile radius. His waitress asked as she seated him if someone else was coming, and he awkwardly tossed out a _yes_ , even though he hadn't had a date in a decade. He had to pretend he wasn't going to order until his hypothetical date came for about twenty minutes until he pretended to look sad and mumbled something about how he might as well order then.

The façade had somewhat ruined his appetite. The reminder that, even if he had a date, he would have been stood up made his food seem less important. Sure, he was good at his poker face, but that shit always hurt.

His waitress stopped by again and sighed, filling up his water glass, "I cannot believe the nerve of some people."

"Tell me about it," Reid replied, somewhat awkwardly as he stabbed his fork into the pile of noodles on his plate. "Thanks."

She retreated with her pitcher of water and a slightly sluggish walk as opposed to her usual pep. He felt guilty to a certain degree—she was really shaken up by his imaginary boyfriend standing him up. Of course, she might have thought he was a girlfriend. He just prayed he could eat enough to not look suspicious and leave before she tried to flirt with him.

The chance for her to flirt was tampered as he felt someone sit across from him.

Spencer slowly lowered his fork and raised his eyes to see an older man with an apologetic smile shedding his coat, "Hey, sorry I'm late."

Spencer shook his head slowly. Was he hallucinating the man of his dreams? What was in the food he had hardly eaten?

"What was your name again? I know Jessica told me, but I've completely forgotten." The man held his hand out over the table and Spencer, putting aside his acute germ phobia, shaking his hand.

"Spencer," he replied. He figured if this man confused him for a blind date, he'd accept the company willingly, "And yours?"

"Aaron," the man was enthusiastic and his eyes were bright, "I'm glad you started without me, I was worried you were just sitting here worrying."

 _You have no idea,_ Spencer thought. "It was no trouble. I didn't have much of an appetite, I just figured I'd order instead of looking weird sitting alone." The truth was sinking into his story.

"Considering as I've never spoken to you before," Aaron spoke quietly and kindly, and Spencer wondered if his face showed how interested in this man he really was, "what do you do for a living?"

"Um," Spencer shifted in his seat, "I work at a university. Really boring, I guess you don't-"

"What university?" Aaron cut his statement off with sparkling eyes, propping his chin on his hands, "What do you teach?"

"Oh, I'm over at Cal-Tech," Spencer gestured with a lanky arm, a smile on his face as he realized this man wouldn't be as bad as he thought he might be, "I'm pretty much a teacher's assistant. My mentor, he's exemplary at behavioral analysis, and he's helping me study for the degrees I need to get a job in the government."

"Woah," Aaron leaned forward, truly interested. "That's more or less my plan for the time being."

"Really?" Spencer raised his eyebrows, "That's crazy. What do you do now?"

"Attorney. Also boring, but has its merits," Aaron shot him a grin that made Spencer's spine turn to ice. "This is awesome. Do you know Jessica well?"

Spencer rubbed the back of his neck. "I wouldn't say well."

"She knows you well enough to know that we'd hit it off?"

"Sure," Spencer nodded, wanting to get off the subject of the mystery woman as soon as possible. He wanted Aaron to like him, but he didn't want to lie so much that once he learned the truth (if he learned the truth, considering it was ultimately possible that he could mess up) he wouldn't want to continue seeing him. Not that they were seeing each other at the time. Well, he supposed they were. This was a date. Hell. "I'll be honest, my track record with women isn't the best."

"Me neither!" Aaron said, relieved. "Seems like every relationship I've had with a woman has ended in disaster."

Spencer's eyes widened and he grasped his water glass, "You have no idea..."

They spoke for an hour or two, swapping anecdotes about women they'd lost and dreams about careers in the FBI or the CIA. Aaron talked about his son and Spencer talked about his books, and everything seemed so comfortable and unrehearsed. After their respective plates were cleared and their glasses were empty, Aaron picked up the check and offered to walk Spencer home. Spencer shrugged and agreed—Aaron hadn't shown any signs of being a serial killer and he didn't want the night to end yet.

As they slowly stumbled down the street, shoulder's bumping, Spencer let his hands sink into his pockets and looked over to Aaron, "Where do you live?"

"I'm the other direction. Not too far though," he took a deep breath through his nose, "It's nice out here tonight, huh?"

Spencer agreed, "Very. It's like the sky realized we'd be walking for awhile and chose to cut some slack."

"That's probably what happened," Aaron chuckled and hummed as his phone vibrated in his pocket. Spencer just whistled to himself as his date fumbled with his device, glancing around to realize they were a few steps from his apartment complex. He frowned, not wanting to tell Aaron that they had to part ways but also wanting to leave before the other man learned the truth. "Hey, Spencer?"

"Yes?"

"Were you planning on telling me that you weren't the woman I was supposed to meet?"

Spencer grimaced, stopping in his tracks in front of his apartment building and praying to whatever God was listening that he wasn't about to get beat up in the parking lot of his home. "Probably not."

"Alright," Aaron nodded slowly and looked down at his feet, "Y'know, I probably should have realized that it wouldn't have been a guy, but I was really hoping."

"I mean?" Spencer clenched his hands in his pockets, "It happened... I'm definitely not a girl, and I'm not complaining that you chose to spend your evening with me."

"Me neither," Aaron grinned and held up his phone for Spencer to read a message sent by Jessica, supposedly, "I don't think I could have related to Beth. She's a dentist and she despises the government."

"Oof," the younger man laughed and counted his blessings to have fallen so easily for such a nice guy, "I'm glad to meet your acquaintance then."

They stood, rocking awkwardly for a moment before Aaron broke the silence, "When can we do this again?"

"You want to do this again?" Spencer asked, way too excitedly to be mistaken for disgust, "I mean, I definitely want to, I'm just... surprised."

"You don't think I'd want to see you again?"

"After I've pretended as though I was your blind date, which should have been a woman and also a dentist and also not as awkward? Not really," he replied honestly. "But I like you. A lot, and I-"

Aaron kissed him quick on the lips and receded as though he'd pressed his mouth to a hot stove-top. He seemed as though he wanted to run away, but not because he regretted it, and Spencer was suddenly glad that they hadn't driven home.

"Hey," Spencer said, capturing Aaron's attention at the softness of his tone, "Do you wanna... come inside, and we can do that more?"

Aaron's features were captured in a wide grin and Spencer took his hand, dragging him up the stairs.


End file.
